Isis: Moroccan Man Arrested in Casablanca for Attempting to Join Terror Group With Young Daughters

IS fighters take part in a military parade along the streets of northern Raqqa province, Syria.Reuters

A Moroccan man has been arrested at Casablanca airport attempting to fly to Turkey with his two young daughters to join up with Isis (Islamic State).

The Moroccan Interior Ministry identified the man by his initials of NR and revealed that he had been under police restrictions in France.

He was arrested with his two daughters, aged two and four years old, and a Moroccan woman with whom he had a "traditional" marriage, said the statement from the ministry. His legal wife was still in France, according to MAPP news agency.

The Moroccan government in Rabat estimates that over 2,000 Moroccan nationals - many with dual nationality - have flocked to Iraq and Syria to fight for jihadist groups. There are fears that these fighters will return and carry out attacks on Moroccan soil.

Last month, a terror cell affiliated with IS was broken up by authorities in Morocco and Spain and it was revealed that the leader of the cell was the brother of a Spanish soldier.

One Spanish national and eight Moroccans were arrested in anti-terror raids conducted by authorities in the Moroccan town of Nador and Spain's enclave of Melilla that borders the North African nation.

According to Spain'sEl Pais newspaper, the Spanish national was the head of the terror cell and sources claimed that his brother was a former soldier in the elite unite of the Spanish army known as the Spanish Legion.

The operation represented the second Spanish-Moroccan counterterrorism raid in recent months, with another recruiting network targeted in Spain's other North African enclave of Ceuta in August.